UK Broadband Speed Test Results May 2016

This press release gives the aggregated speed test results from the hundreds of thousands of tests carried out by site users at www.broadband.co.uk during May 2016.

Fixed line home broadband providers – overview

Average fixed line download & upload speeds – May 2016 Average Download Average Upload ISP Speed (Mbps) Speed (Mbps) BT 20.524 5.152 EE 10.807 2.584 14.889 3.196 Post Office 3.24 0.361 Sky 11.523 2.62 TalkTalk 13.282 2.13 47.859 5.931 All fixed line providers 22.074 4.148

Virgin Media retain first place, with average download speeds rising by 1.08Mbps to 47.86Mbps. BT are in second place, with download speeds rising by 1.72Mbps to 20.52Mbps. Plusnet remain in third place, with download speeds increasing slightly by 0.34Mbps to 14.89Mbps. TalkTalk are in fourth place, with speeds stable at 13.28Mbps. Sky return to fifth place after EE see a drop in speeds, with Sky's speeds increasing by 0.4Mbps to 11.52Mbps.

Overall, the average download speed across all fixed line providers has risen slightly since last month by 0.49Mbps to 22.07Mbps. Upload speeds have also risen slightly to 4.15Mbps, continuing the upwards trend since the start of the year.

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UK Broadband Speed Test Results May 2016

Consumer mobile broadband providers

Average consumer mobile download & upload speeds – May 2016 Average Download Average Upload ISP Speed (Mbps) Speed (Mbps) EE Mobile 19.901 4.221 O2 Mobile 11.993 2.982 Three Mobile 11.751 3.36 Mobile 16.618 3.639 All consumer mobile 15.053 3.555

Unlike many other speed tests, our test supports users of mobile and tablet devices, and so we're able to provide information about average speeds for mobile broadband providers.

Results from May see EE holding first place with average download speeds increasing by 0.38Mbps to 19.9Mbps. Vodafone remain in second place with a 0.54Mbps increase in download speeds to 16.62Mbps. O2 move up to third place, but with average speeds decreasing by 0.71Mbps to 12Mbps. Three are down to fourth place with download speeds at 11.75Mbps, a decrease of 1.16Mbps over last month.

Overall, the average download speed across all consumer mobile was 15.05Mbps, a 0.43Mbps decrease compared to last month, while average mobile broadband upload speeds have also fallen by 0.15Mbps to 3.6Mbps.

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UK Broadband Speed Test Results May 2016

Fixed line home broadband providers – time of day Average fixed line download speeds split by time of day – May 2016 Overnight Daytime Evening (00:00 to (08:00 to (18:00 to ISP 08:00) Average 18:00) Average 00:00) Average download download download speed (Mbps) speed (Mbps) speed (Mbps) BT 20.745 20.446 20.583 EE 12.344 10.596 10.633 Plusnet 15.807 14.894 14.572 Post Office 4.708 3.624 2.595 Sky 12.135 11.864 10.887 TalkTalk 14.32 13.34 12.833 Virgin Media 53.179 51.3 41.905 All fixed line providers 23.119 22.549 21.044

When the fixed line providers' average download speed is split to show separate figures for overnight, daytime and evening tests, we see how download speed is heavily influenced by the time of day.

For providers such as Virgin Media, EE and Post Office Broadband the overnight level shows significantly higher average speeds than the evening peak periods. This clearly shows the effects of network congestion on the average broadband connection at peak hours.

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UK Broadband Speed Test Results May 2016

Supplemental fixed line broadband providers

Average download & upload speeds (supplemental) – May 2016 Average Download Average Upload ISP Speed (Mbps) Speed (Mbps) Daisy 13.26 3.812 Zen 16.179 4.47 KC 37.494 7.643 Vodafone Broadband 21.155 6.311 Eclipse Internet 11.874 2.814 BT Wi-Fi (aka BT Fon) 4.925 2.039 Demon Broadband 5.502 1.207 12.055 6.258 Hyperoptic 105.103 84.079 Relish 12.997 2.005

Here we list additional fixed line broadband providers with fewer customers making use of our speed test. All providers listed have sufficient test numbers across the month to make average speeds statistically significant, but not enough tests to be split by time of day. The lower down the list, the less confident we are about the overall accuracy of the average results.

It should be noted that some of these ISPs primarily supply broadband to the business market, and so may utilize technologies not available to the vast majority of broadband users. Home providers tend to have a peak of test numbers in the evening while primarily business providers, such as Zen or Daisy have the greatest number during the day time.

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UK Broadband Speed Test Results May 2016

About the broadband.co.uk speed test results

 Our results are taken from our website users performing speed tests using our speed checker at http://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband-speed-test/  We record hundreds of thousands of speed tests every month  Unlike other speed test services we record the Internet Service Provider (ISP) by IP address making our ISP recording very accurate rather than relying on self selection. Certain ISPs resell their services as a wholesale or white label product, in these cases the wholesale ISP is matched  We pick out the following 'big 7' fixed line ISPs for detailed reporting every month:  BT  EE (excluding 4G mobile broadband)  Post Office  Plusnet  Sky  TalkTalk  Virgin Media  As our test is one of the few that will run on mobile devices and tablets, we're also able to report on the following mobile broadband providers:  EE  O2  Three  Vodafone

About broadband.co.uk

 Our broadband price comparison is accredited by as open, honest and transparent  We are one of the original broadband information and comparison sites having been launched in 2004  With well over 3 million visitors per year we are one of the UK's leading sources of broadband information and advice  We provide beginners guides to all areas of broadband along with detailed buyers guides to the major broadband providers, speed tester and broadband postcode look-up functionality  We provide a free “Ask the expert” service where our broadband expert answers any query related to broadband, technical, comparison and related

For more information contact Fiona Conner via email at [email protected]

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